You might as well hang a sign on eBay thieves welcome

I used to buy and sell on eBay but no longer due because of the number of people using it to commit fraud and steal money or product. We all know it is a risk when we buy or sell anyplace online. It just seems that because eBay is so big it is more of a target. I want to provide information and other people’s stories so we can try and protect ourselves both as buyers and sellers.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Watching a documentary on shoplifting on the Discovery channel was shocking. As a retailer I understood theft is an ongoing never ending issue. I did not understand how big of an issue shoplifting is. It really is killing business for some people. People struggle to make sales only to have the five finger discounts walk away with any profit.

The real problem is that most people are unaware that the great deal they are getting on eBay, some online stores, flea markets and even some discount stores started off on a store shelf. How can an honest person know what was stolen? A seller of stolen product is going to strive for a golden reputation, great feedback and a very professional image just like those who are not selling stolen product.

What can the average person do? Think before buying, if a deal seems to be too good to be true that is a good sign it is. However as long as we don’t know for sure an item is stolen most of us are going to take the deal. Sometimes it is the only way to afford the things we need or want. Do I want to be buying stolen product, no. Can I be 100% sure that I am not, no. Not even when I am buying in a store.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Misleading pictures, tricky language and exorbitant shipping sums have screwed people out of money time and time again. What would it look like if everyone on the auction site had to tell the truth ... even eBay?

Earlier this year, Chad Smith, a pastor from Tuscaloosa, began looking for a non-denominational church to lead... "I was riding my motorcycle down the road, and came up with the idea of putting my wife, myself, and my kids for sale on eBay."

The company, which helped shape Web 1.0 ecommerce, now confronts a stark reality: Internet shopping no longer looks as it did a decade ago. Auction commerce—still the company's crown jewel—is losing much of its luster. In order to keep revenue and profit growing, eBay is being forced to reboot its brand. Will eBay 2.0 still be recognizable as eBay?

Friday, July 4, 2008

Today I had about 10 different banks or money transfer companies like Paypal contact me to let me know someone has been doing something with my account. All I have to do is click this link and confirm my information so that they can investigate the unusual transactions or dispute. Of all of them I knew one by name, most were not even in my country, let alone a place that I had an account with. You have got to love those mass email programs.

It seems people actually fall for this phishing and give their information out because someone emailed them asking for it. There must be a lot of money in it because these thieves do put a lot of work into making their fake websites look like the real thing. Also because most of the crimes take place outside of their country and over the Internet it is hard to find them and then prosecute them. So they are getting away with it and people like me are paying the price.

I stopped using eBay because someone used another person’s account fraudulently and I ended up being out almost $500.00 and a lot of time. It seems that the thief may have used phishing to get the person’s eBay and Paypal information. Then they used it to buy up about ½ a million dollars worth of high end jewelry on eBay, and had it all rush shipped before the fraud was caught by the person who’s account they were using. This one person burned many people within a few hours, most lost rings valued at $2000 to $10,000. Multiply that by the number of people who actually fall for the phishing emails they could be making millions in a very short time. All of which is in untraceable product that is easy to transform into money.

Rule of thumb, if you get an email questioning your account information on anything do not respond directly to the email or use any links on it. Go to the web site using a link you know is theirs and then check out your information. If someone is sending you an email about your account there should be a message on your account. Almost every company and bank out there now has contact information on where to send phishing emails to so they can investigate it. If you get one take the time to pass the information on to the company or bank. As an individual all we can do is add it to our Spam list and delete it. I am not sure what a company can do at this point but at least they are taking it seriously.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Friday, January 25, 2008

Some times life happens and you have to cancel an eBay listing. Over the years I have been forced to cancel a couple. Once the item went missing, it was never found. I kept all my eBay items in one spot and I noticed that a necklace was not were I put it. I could not find it and did not have what I needed to remake it. So I had to cancel the listing. What made it hard on me was that I had some good bids on it already. I ended up loosing the sale and still had to pay the insertion fee.

I was very lucky that I noticed it before there was less the 12 hours remaining on the auction and was able to cancel the listing. Other wise I would have had to manually cancel every bid on the necklace right up until the auction was over. That would have been difficult because people bid right up to the last second.

I explained to everyone that had a bid that the necklace was missing so I was cancelling the auction. This way they knew before they received an email from eBay saying their bid was cancelled. Once they knew I would not sell anything unless I had it right there people were ok about it. Not happy, but understood that I did not want to take the chance of selling them some thing I did not have. Good thing I did that as I never did find the necklace.

There are some very strict rules for when you can cancel an eBay listing. EBay does not like it when you cancel a listing and keeps a close eye on why people cancel a listing. Some people have cancelled listings because the bids were not as high as they wanted. So they would cancel the listing, and re-list hopping to get higher bids. That is what a reserve price is for. When people do this eBay sees it as reserve fee circumvention and will investigate if they feel some one is abusing the system to save that fee.

So how do you cancel an eBay listing? First you find the item number, you can get it from your confirmation email, the My eBay page, or the listing View Item Page. Then type the item number into the End My Listing Early form. If there are bids you will have to choose between cancel bids and end listing early or sell the item to the current highest bidder and end listing early. Then you choose the reason for ending the listing early.

OK reasons for ending the listing:The item is no longer available for sale; changed your mind.There was an error on the starting price or reserve amount; typo and not checking before posting.There was an error in the listing; usually you can make a change unless it is under 12 hrs before the auction ends.The item was lost or broken; the most common reason to end an auction, it happens to everyone some time or another.Once you have done that the listing will end and is not displayed on eBay and any bidders are emailed that their bid will be cancelled.

This is not some thing you want to ever have to do. You loose sales and sometimes customers. People are less likely to bid on your items if you have cancelled an auction on them before. If I had found the necklace I would have re-listed it and emailed the people who had bids on it to let them know it was available again. Because of the way I handled it they may have been willing to bid again, but maybe not. I could have damaged my customer relations and lost their trust. It shows poor business skills if you cannot keep track of your product, or did not proof read your ad before posting. On the other hand it did show my integrity that I would not take the chance of selling something I no longer had.

I don’t know about you but I get sick and tired of all the dumb get rich schemes out there. If you want to make serious money with Ebay then the most important thing is getting a good product dirt cheap. This is why I go to local auctions especially

About Me

I am hardworking, living life the best I can as I wait to win the lotto, like every one else. I enjoy life. I figure if I don’t win the lotto I will just have to earn my money the hard way, by working hard.

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We should try and get eBay to put some sort of seller insurance for when things like this happen. If enough people tell them they will not sell or buy anymore until it is, there they might look into it.